MPs back May’s call for election

Northern Powerhouse concerns

IF A week is a long time in politics, as Harold Wilson famously said, a year must seem like an eternity. Twelve months ago David Cameron and George Osborne were the country’s chief political powerbrokers and pivotal figures in the Remain campaign.

Mr Cameron gambled on silencing the vociferous Eurosceptics within his party by holding a referendum on Britain’s EU membership – a move that failed spectacularly. The former Prime Minister stepped down and now George Osborne has said he is quitting as an MP “for now”, following Theresa May’s unexpected decision to call a snap general election – a move that was overwhelmingly approved by MPs, 522 to 13, in a House of Commons vote.

Many Yorkshire voters will be glad to see the back of the former chancellor. However, for all his faults, the Tatton MP did at least recognise the importance of the North of England in helping to rebalance the economy.

Mr Osborne and Mr Cameron were key figures in driving the Northern Powerhouse agenda and both have now left the political stage, at least for the time being.

The former chancellor is the man credited with coining the phrase ‘Northern Powerhouse’ and was its biggest champion, yet not only is he no longer in power he’s now editing a London newspaper and in seven weeks time won’t even be in Parliament.

So where does this leave the Northern Powerhouse? Mrs May’s reluctance to discuss the matter and the fact she hasn’t visited Yorkshire since last July to listen to the region’s views, raises concerns that it will become little more than an election footnote during the next seven weeks.

The Prime Minister defended her decision not to take part in a leaders’ debate on TV saying she preferred “to get out and about and meet voters”.

She would do well to make Yorkshire her first port of call.